New Zealand 2 - Taupo, Napier & Wellington

Taupo

We travelled from Rotorua to Taupo on our now customary form of transport - the good old intercity bus! Once we arrived in Taupo we went up to some hotspringsjust in a river - it was soo cool! A series of pools spilling into a river were spewing out boiling water - sitting in it was just like being in a bath but in such a beautiful location! very chilled out!

The next day, Nisha and I had arranged to do the Tongariro One day crossing. This is billed as the best 1 day walk in new zealand, and it certainly lived up to its name. It involved a pretty early start (we had to be outside the hostel at 5.40am!) but it was soo worth it. The walk is 19k through a mountainous valley through a load of mountains which I can't remember the names of... but the snow capped one (see pictures) was the one used as Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings!! It was a really great walk and the bus company which took us were very careful to check that everyone returned - so it was well organised. Nisha and I managed to create a bit of a group to walk together - Wisse (dutch film student - we accosted him in a mini bus to wai-o-tapu when we heard him asking someone about what the crossing was like), Rich (British, we accosted him in the youth hostel when he was booking his bus and persuaded him to take the same one as us and walk with us), Edward (Swiss, though scottish educated - met him at the YHA and then he found us on the walk - only after he'd already climbed mount doom though!) and Nic (he found us by offering to take our photo and then joining in our group so he didn't have to go it alone!) so all in all it was pretty good fun! I think the photos are best for this - it was soo beautiful!

After Taupo we headed to Napier - where the bus pass took us next. It was ok, but nothing special - if you're planning a trip I wouldn't bother - we just slept the night and moved on!

Wellington

The capital of NZ is a very cool place - but also cold! The winds there are crazy! However, we visited the national museum - Te Papa - very cool, and Nisha and I headed out to the coast for a very blustery walk! All in all a great city to hang out in... (The rest of the time here was affected by a bar selling NZ$3 bubbly..... !)

And so onward to south island!

xx